Acumulação de metais pesados por macrófitas aquáticas : um estudo de revisão

Abstract

Most heavy metals are classified as either biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Small amounts of biodegradable substances play a key role in maintaining the life of living organisms, while non-biodegradable organisms have no functionality for living organisms, therefore exposure to any concentration causes harmful effects on the environment, human health and Animal, besides changing the development of plants and vegetables. Among the existing metals, Cr, Pb, Hg and Cd stand out because they are widely used in industrial environments and because of the highly toxic content. Those exposed to high concentrations of these metals may present brain, respiratory, central nervous system damage, kidney damage, among others, and may lead to death. These metals are difficult to treat pollutants. Traditional methods such as ion exchange, chemical precipitation, reverse osmosis, electrolysis, filtration, membrane technologies, are not effective or economically unviable for use on an industrial scale. In the search for economically accessible and efficient alternatives, several biomasses have been studied for the removal and accumulation process, including aquatic macrophytes, being used in the biosorption and bioaccumulation process of these metals, because they are plants that develop in several environments, being easy to grow, Become a promising alternative in the removal of metals. We present in this work a bibliographical review with results of studies of the accumulation of metals by macrophytes and their capacity to remove and accumulate heavy metals from aquatic environments.